Local Girl Scouts sell over 13,000 boxes of cookies this year

The Girl Scouts of Breckenridge have wrapped up their cookie sales for the year, earning funds for their troop and the Texas Oklahoma Plains Girl Scout council.

Nine girls of Troop 8356 participated in the annual cookie sale this year, selling a total of 13,116 boxes of cookies in a little more than 50 days.

According to troop leader Kim Fuller, the troop had members out with the flu and other illnesses during the sale, but they still managed to sell an average of 252 boxes of cookies each day.

Six of the girls made it to the “Cookie Diva” level, selling 1,200 or more boxes of cookies this season, and five of the girls sold 2,000 or more boxes this year. The national average per sale is 390 boxes of cookies per girl. But, the Breckenridge troop sold an average of 1,457 boxes of cookies per girl during the sale, Fuller said.

In addition to selling cookies directly to cookie lovers, the girls also collected donations to send cookies to U.S. military troops. As a troop, they sent 80 cases of cookies to currently active military troops and to veterans in the Breckenridge community and in surrounding communities. The local Girl Scouts also delivered cookies to the Military Veteran Peer Network to distribute to veterans that are homebound due to health and PTSD issues.

“Most important to my heart is that our troop collected, boxed and sent out or will donate 1,064 packages of cookies to active and retired military,” Fuller said. “That’s just over 80 cases of cookies donated by our nine little girls to the men and women who have served to protect our freedoms and way of life.”

Additionally, at their own expense, some girls sent the cookies to military troops serving overseas. For example, Girl Scout Kodee Crawford sent 11 cases of cookies to overseas military personnel and received this message in return:

“Thank you so much for thinking of us and sending us delicious Girl Scout cookies!!! Our unit is currently stationed at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. We have Soldiers in our unit also stationed in Iraq, Qatar and Jordan. We have mailed each of these groups some of the cookies to make sure we share. Your thoughtfulness means the world to us and we genuinely appreciate you taking the time to keep us in your thoughts.”

For each box of cookies the Girl Scouts sell, all of the profits stay with the troop and the council. The Texas Oklahoma Plains council includes most of north Texas, from Fort Worth westward, and a few Oklahoma Panhandle counties. In addition to the money benefiting the troop and the council, each Girl Scout earns “Cookie Bucks” or council credit that can be used for paying for Girl Scout camp or items in the Girl Scout shops.

“Thank you! To everyone that donated, purchased, promoted and cheered us on,” Fuller wrote on the troop’s Facebook page. “These girls worked so hard so they can do fun and exciting things as well as important and worthwhile community service projects. We couldn’t do any of that without your help and support during this cookie season.”

Cutline, top photo: U.S. military troops stationed in Kuwait enjoy the cookies that were sent to them by local Girl Scout Kodee Crawford. In all, local Girl Scouts sent 80 cases of cookies to U.S. military troops and veterans.(Photo courtesy of Rhonda Crawford)